The Huskies are off the field today after a rugged two-hour practice at a hot and sunny Husky Stadium --- probably not the conditions they will get Saturday when the USC Trojans, as well as some possible rain, roll into town.

Tuesday is typically one of the hardest workouts of the week, a day when a majority of the game plan is installed and the team is in full pads, and this one was no exception. We don't get access to Steve Sarkisian afterward so I don't have any quotes to pass along. I did a few interviews with some other coaches and players and I'll get to some of that later. For now, a few other notes from practice.

--- DT Alameda Ta'amu missed practice today due to a death in the family. With De'Shon Matthews also still out with a knee injury --- Matthews spent the day running steps and other conditioning work --- Ta'amu was replaced largely by Tyrone Duncan in the starting defense.

--- DE Darrion Jones also remained out with a knee bruise suffered against LSU, looking increasingly like he may miss a second straight game. Kalani Aldrich remains the starter at that spot, though Talia Crichton also saw some work there and Everrette Thompson also saw his second straight day of some pretty significant work rotating in with the top two units. Again looks like the coaches are taking a serious look at him and what roles he may be able to play on the defensive line after Sarkisian said Monday they might consider redshirting him if he still hadn't play after the USC game passed.

--- S Nate Williams also sat out some of practice though it appeared to be precautionary.

--- The most notable offensive personnel move is that for the second straight day, Mykenna Ikehara continued to get a large share of the reps at left guard, the spot occupied the past two games by Greg Christine. Christine appears fine. With Sarkisian not talking today, there was no official explanation of what any of it might mean as the offensive linemen were also instructed not to talk to the media.

--- Also not talking to the media today was TB Chris Polk, also placed off-limits by the coaching staff, apparently in part due to comments he made after Saturday's game about the USC game being "personal'' for him after he initially committed to the Trojans, then de-committed.

--- One person who did talk was RB coach Joel Thomas, who said that while Demitrius Bronson has not played yet this season there is no plan to redshirt him. I'll have more from Thomas later.

--- PK Erik Folk was 4-5 on field goals today, the longest appearing to be from about 44 yards.

--- Jake Locker was 2-4 during the team portion of practice for about 19 yards with one interception, that coming by Greg Walker. The starting safeties appeared to still be Williams and Justin Glenn other than during the time Williams was hurt when Walker was among those who rotated in.

--- Locker, however, had earlier been 10-11 for 135 yards during the seven-on-seven portion.

--- Since I first wrote this, informed it's more like 59,000 tickets sold for USC. I'll try to update that later, as well.

All for now.